Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Octomore 3.1 / 3_152. Its name looks like a eight-limbed military robot prototype. But it ain't no war machine, it's a peat machine. Let's break down that name. Octomore is named after a farm that sits on a hill above Port Charlotte on The Rhinns of Islay (the peninsula on the west coast). In the early 1800s, a distillery was built on the farm that utilized their own barley for malt whisky.

Today, "Octomore" is being produced at the Bruichladdich distillery by the same folks who make the "Port Charlotte" whiskies. This particular version of Octomore is the Third Edition, thus the "3". Many of the editions have sub-editions, usually with different maturation techniques, thus the ".1" designation. "3_152" says that this third edition has a phenol level of 152 parts per million.

The Octomores are the most heavily peated single malts in the world. That's been their calling card. The ppm levels for the six regular editions have ranged from 131 to 169. Compare that to the standard Lagavulin and Laphroaig levels of 35-40ppm. Ardbeg's malt has 55ppm and their own peat experiment, Supernova, reached 100ppm. I've been told the key to Octomore's extra high peat levels is moisture. Manipulating moisture levels in the peat and barley allows more smoke to be generated and phenols to be absorbed. (By the way, if anyone knows that I've been given erroneous info on this last part, please let me know.)

To me, the Octomores are a stunt. They are experiments. But they are also VERY expensive whiskies, as in $200 for a five year old. And it's not a single cask whisky. There are 18,000 bottles released for each expression. My feelings about the pricing have, in the past, influenced my opinion of the whisky itself. Also, my previous three Octomore tries have been in circumstances that did not lend themselves to full appreciation of any sort of whisky.

Thanks to two different readers, I was able to look past the pricing issues, sit down with THREE different Octomores side-by-side in my dining room and suss them out. Daniel, a professional DJ and a well-versed whisky man, brought over two of the Octomores. Eric S., a very generous anorak from the Lone Star State, sent the third Octomore I brought to the table.

The color, a medium gold, is actually the darkest of the three, leading me to consider there's a large factor of first-fill or heavier-charred casks in the mix. The nose is the most farmy of the three as well. Quite some manure. Ocean notes arise, but not of a clean clear ocean, rather something more like Long Beach: the waters of an industrial port. There's a friendly back-and-forth between sugary lemon rinds and something meaty-savory. Maybe some roasted nuts in there too. A veggie peat note pops up at the end, reminiscent of bean sprouts. Some very palatable peat on the palate, considering its levels. Vanilla peat perhaps? A little mild cheese, pleasantly bitter black tea, and a green herbal note as well. Give it some time for some rich toasted oak and yeasty bread notes to appear. The finish is mellow, but very long. There's the vanilla and caramel from the oak, toasted peat from the malting floor, and a bright herbal-ness from the spirit.

Keep in mind, this sampling came from near the bottom of the 3.1's bottle. It had been decanted into a smaller bottle, but there's a chance a little bit of oxidation was involved which may have made the ABV feel softer. So that's my disclaimer. Otherwise, this was darned good.

One thing I've noticed with all the Octomores I've tried is that despite their extreme PPMs, the drinker isn't cloaked in smoke nor blinded by iodine and medicinal sharpness. You can actually experience more peat aggression in the official Laphroaig CSs or some Port Charlottes or The Corryvreckan. It's almost as if there's so much peating going on with the Octomores that the drinker goes right through the peat wall and into the other side, finding a controlled, mossy, coastal, toasty Islay malt. We'll see this happen with the next two Octomores as well...

Availability - Getting tough to find, maybe a dozen retailers around the world